Greater Reading Narrow Gauge Meet Report

August 13th and 14th, 2010

My friend Nate Kline, owner of Nate's Light Iron Hobbies, has started a new annual narrow gauge meet in Robesonia, Berks County, PA. I was unable to make the first meet, so Nate sent me a CD with photos of the event. I'd like to share these with you all. So here, in Nate's own words, is a report on the meet.

"The first ever Greater Reading Narrow Gauge Meet was held on Friday and Saturday August 13th and 14th. The event went from 8am to 6pm on Friday and 8am to 4pm on Saturday. Attendance was somewhat low, however, this was to be expected for a first time narrow gauge meet of its type and I was quite pleased with it."

The Meet

"Despite this fact the 5 vendors that attended the meet all had a good time and plenty to offer the narrow minded visitors, roughly 10-15 at the least throughout both days, that stopped by to say hello and see what was going on. Some of the visitors even sat down to chat for a while.

I had 3 tables with On30 goodies and East Broad Top pictures and DVDís. John "Uncle Weigely" Weigel of Peterboro Railroad fame had two tables filled with many On30 goodies. Wes White had items from the Steve Gable estate. Steve Potteiger hand a nice mix of On30 and various Maine models as well as some nice Bachmann G scale items he was selling for a friend of his. Roland Picard had a couple On30 items for sale as well."

Here are some photos taken in the meeting hall:

"Roland Picard had some beautiful scratchbuilt structures on display."

"Coffee, donuts, and conversation were a big hit and On30 trains were running both days on two big loops of HO scale E-Z Track almost 16í long! There was also a small loop of N scale E-Z Track with the new HOn30 MinitrainS running as well as a roughly 2íx4í On30 Christmas display I had built for in the front window at my friendís model train shop at Christmas time. Wes White also had his WW&F Sheepscot Station module along that I had built and then ended up selling to him."

"All in all everyone had a good time and I would call the meet a success and Iím looking forward to the next time and seeing these guys, as well as some new faces, again."

Editors Note: I was sorry that I couldn't attend Nate's first meet, and I hope to make it to his next one in 2011. Informal meets of this nature are great ways to share our hobby interests and meet new friends. I encourage you all to support local meets in your area.